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PRESS RELEASE
April 2008
ANGELS FALL IN LOVE WITH SPEEDPITCHING
Place some of the UK’s most influential businessmen and women in a room with a group ambitious and driven entrepreneurs and what do you get? Answer, the UK’s first Speedpitching event, which recently took place in London.
Speedpitching is a revolutionary networking event designed to enable entrepreneurs to pitch their business ideas on a one-to-one basis to a number of interested Business Angels in one evening. The idea is based around the idea of the ‘elevator pitch’ – the rapid individual pitch that all entrepreneurs seeking funding are advised to prepare.
Online funding website, Angels Den www.angelsden.co.uk pioneered the concept because they recognised that achieving investment for a start-up business is a numbers game. The more investors that entrepreneurs pitch to, the more likely they are to find a Business Angel that is willing to invest.
The first event was well attended by both investors and entrepreneurs, with investors purportedly bringing with them millions to invest. The night was hugely successful and a number of deals are progressing further. One such company that was successful from the first event was Chop’d, which is owned by Jasper Wight. Jasper is currently looking to expand his salad bar to up to nine outlets by the end of 2009.
Chop’d Managing Director, Jasper Wright, says: “Speedpitching is a fantastic way of meeting Business Angels in order to pitch my business plan to them in person. After all, a large part of a business deal is seeing whether you can work together. I spoke to each Angel on the night for three minutes and then moved onto the next. This gave me enough time to pitch my plan and maximise how many Angels I spoke to. For me, the night was a huge success and I am currently in the final stages of talks with a Business Angel, securing investment for my salad bar business Chop’d.”
Speedpitching puts the entrepreneur in front of the investor, providing a unique opportunity to pitch their idea to the right person at the right time. If a deal is agreed the Business Angel and the entrepreneur discuss the finer details of return on investment and how much stake the Business Angel will have within the business.
Co-Founder of Angel’s Den, Bill Morrow, says: “We first mentioned the concept of Speedptiching to Entrepreneurs and Business Angels on the Angels Den website to see what they thought and it escalated from there.
“We filled the event capacity within several minutes of posting it on the site and it got to the stage where we could have had several Speedpitching events running at the same time and would still not have room for everyone who wanted to be involved. We are planning to have a Speedpitchingevent each month so that more Business Angels and entrepreneurs can have the chance to pitch their business plans.”
Speedpitching is only available to entrepreneurs and Business Angels who are registered with Angels Den. For further information visit www.angelsden.co.uk.
ENDS
For further information contact either Charlotte Jones or Kathryn Renshaw on 0845 090 0171 or email charlotte.jones@pazang.co.uk
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